A win over surging welterweight contender Carlos Prates won’t do much for Ian Machado Garry’s title ambitions, Chael Sonnen has said.

It was confirmed this week that Dubliner Garry will take on Brazil’s Prates in the main event of this month’s UFC event in Kansas City, filling in for the cancelled headliner between Jamahal Hill and Khalil Rountree after former 205-pound champ Hill withdrew through injury.

Garry has vowed to get back into the win column after experiencing his first-ever career defeat in December in a decision loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov but will again step into the cage with one of the welterweight division’s foremost finishers — with Prates having won each of his past ten fights via KO or TKO inside the first two rounds.

However, speaking on ESPN’s Good Guy/Bad Guy show Sonnen said that this fight is a lose/lose for the Irishman.

“This fight does not propel [Garry] potentially into a title fight, but it could be the one before the one. I could see Ian and Prates, by the time the media and the build-up happens, and we all enjoy that fight,” Sonnen said.

“Based on how it unfolds, it could draw you into a number one contender’s match. But it is a massive step down for Garry, and guys get asked to do this all the time.

“You’re in a promotion, and as long as you’re in a main event, it shouldn’t matter who the opponent is, but it can change a little bit.”

Garry has spoken recently of his disappointment at being overlooked for a world title fight against Belal Muhammad after Rakhmonov was denied the opportunity through injury, with the Australian slugger Jack Della Maddalena instead being handed his maiden UFC title opportunity in the UFC 315 main event in May.